Coolio

Even in a crowded 1990s, where superlatively talented and uncommonly cool rappers seemed to multiply by the minute, Coolio distinguished himself as an artist wholly his own. Born Artis Ivey Jr. in the Pennsylvania Rust Belt in 1963, he moved with his mother to Compton when he was eight. Throughout the ’70s and ’80s, he saw the way overpolicing and the proliferation of drugs eroded the quality of life in what was once an idyllic suburb. But in the decade that followed, Coolio emerged as a wildly expressive and charismatic rapper, helping to cement his adopted hometown’s reputation as one of the densest concentrations of hip-hop talent in the world. First recognised for his work with fellow Angelenos WC, Big Gee and DJ Crazy Toones in the group WC and the Maad Circle, Coolio struck solo stardom with hits like 1994’s Lakeside-sampling “Fantastic Voyage” and the following year’s towering “Gangsta’s Paradise”, one of the defining songs of the 1990s. He was also incisive in subtler ways, lamenting racist dress codes and injecting humour into the gothic horror that marked his contemporaries’ work.